1. Field of Art
This invention relates to games of chance, and more particularly to a game of chance which is participated in by spectators at an enclosed play area ball game. The invention is particularly (although not exclusively) applicable to indoor football games played in enclosed playing areas or arenas.
2. Related Art
Sports played in enclosed play areas, in particular indoor football games, have become very popular spectator sports. While viewing of the games in and of themselves is the primary attraction for spectators, promoters of the games also stage other attractions for enhancing spectator attendance. Examples include light shows, cheerleading, music, entertaining videos on video display screens, and giving various prizes to the crowd. One way in which prizes are given away is simply to launch promotional items such as souvenir cups, T-shirts and the like into the audience, to be caught by the spectators.
The well known game of chance called xe2x80x9cbingoxe2x80x9d is extremely popular. Players hold one or more game cards, each card typically having a grid of a number of spaces or squares, each square corresponding to a certain letter/number combination. As a xe2x80x9ccallerxe2x80x9d calls letter/number combinations (which are determined by chance, often by pulling balls inscribed with letter/number combinations at random from a hopper), the players mark the squares on their cards which match the called combinations. In a given sequence of play, the first player to achieve a complete row of marked squares on his or her card, whether horizontally, vertical, or diagonal, makes that player a winner. A variation of the common bingo game is one in which the play card squares are identified with unique characters instead of letter/number combinations, and the unique characters are somehow randomly selected and called out for the players to match up on their cards. Yet another variation is that a winner may be determined by only a single xe2x80x9cbonusxe2x80x9d square being picked, instead of or in addition to the full row winning requirement.
The present invention combines attractive aspects of ball games played in enclosed play areas, with a game of chance similar to bingo, for an attractive and novel game of chance for the spectators.
The present invention is a novel system and method for increased spectator participation and attraction at spectator sports. While the present invention is not limited to only a single sport, and not limited to games played indoor or outdoor, the present invention is especially suited to indoor professional football games. It is understood that the present invention could be incorporated into games played outdoors, and with other sports such as hockey, soccer, and basketball, as long as the game is staged in an enclosed play area (although not necessarily indoors). It is to be further understood for purposes of this application that the term xe2x80x9cballxe2x80x9d refers more generally to playing pieces, and includes for example pucks used in hockey games. For illustrative purposes in this application, the invention will be described in conjunction with indoor football games. Such football games are staged in indoor, enclosed play areas, where the playing surface (that is, the field itself) is surrounded at, or relatively closely to, the field boundaries by upright panels, often abutting some part of the structure of the enclosed play area, such as in a stadium or arena. For purposes of this application, the panels will be referred to as xe2x80x9cdasherboards.xe2x80x9d Since players often go out of bounds (whether intentionally, or unintentionally by being forced out by an opposing player during a play), the players during the course of a game will strike the dasherboards a number of times, which number of course is not predictable but generally happens with some frequency.
In addition to the players striking the dasherboards, thrown or kicked balls will periodically strike them.
In addition to the uncertainty or randomness in the number of times dasherboards are struck either by players or balls, it is readily understood that which of the dasherboards surrounding the field are struck during the course of a game is also random (albeit due to the basic nature of the game, dasherboards in certain areas over time will show a greater frequency of strikes than will other dasherboards).
The present invention advantageously uses each random strike on the dasherboards (both in number of strikes and which dasherboards are struck), each of the dasherboards having an advertisement of a given sponsor (which for purposes of this application, will be referred to as a xe2x80x9clogo,xe2x80x9d although the logo may contain typed words only, stylized words, symbols, or any combination thereof) on it, to generate a series of logo xe2x80x9cstrikes.xe2x80x9d Spectators have one or more game cards similar to those used in a conventional bingo game, each of the cards having a grid made up of a number of spaces (typically, although not necessarily, squares), each square having an advertiser""s unique logo. As the dasherboards are struck, the spectators mark off the square or squares on their game cards corresponding to the logo on the dasherboard which has been struck. In this manner, over the course of an indoor football game, the spectators are at the same time marking squares on their game cards, and the first spectator to complete a row (or some other pattern, or even to mark a single xe2x80x9cbonusxe2x80x9d strike) on his or her card wins a prize. The resulting game of chance is highly attractive to spectators and enhances spectator attendance and participation at indoor games. Various types of visual display mechanisms may be used to display for the crowd the logo of the dasherboard which was struck, in addition to an audio announcement (for example, by a live announcer) of each dasherboard strike and the corresponding logo. The visual display and audio announcement may be automatic, in the sense that a strike on a dasherboard automatically generates the display and announcement, or both may be controlled and the audio announcement made by a person. One or more statisticians keep a record of the strikes.